I mentioned in my last update about EFLI (Elite Football League of India) that I had signed up for their email newsletter. Today I got holiday greetings from them and I thought I would pass them on.

Happy Diwali

Diwali, also called as 'Festival of Lights' is a very important festival celebrated in India. According to the Hindu calendar it also marks the beginning of a new year hence everyone is wished "Wish you a very Happy Diwali and a Prosperous New Year".

This festival takes its roots from the mythology 'Ramayana' where King Ram returns home after 14 years of exile and all the villagers lit their house with small clay lamps (diyas) to celebrate his return.

We celebrate Diwali by shopping for new clothes, sending sweets and wishing everyone (family/friends/colleagues), lighting your windows with lanterns, placing small clay lamps (diyas) in every corner of the house, making colorful patterns (rangoli) outside your home, bursting lots of crackers and conducting traditional activities (puja) at home.

"On this auspicious festival of lights, may the glow of joy, prosperity and happiness illuminate your days in the year ahead. Wish you a very Happy Diwali and a Prosperous New Year"

Thanks for the well wishes, and back at ya EFLI.

One thing continues to puzzle me, in my last report I linked to a newspaper article that said that the EFLI had expanded from 8 to 10 teams. In the comments of that post Dan Green pointed out that the EFLI Wikipedia page indicated that Chennai and Jaipur were the two cities that landed the new franchises. Yet, in the newsletter they continue to report only the original 8 teams.

To try to clear this up I went to their website and got even more confused when I read the article City game for ‘American league’. It made no mention of adding two more teams from Indian cities, but it did say they were going to invite two teams from Sri Lanka and one from Bangladesh to play. So, is it 8, 10,11, or 13 teams? I guess we'll find out.

By the way, this section from the above EFLI article is pretty entertaining:

Does the average Indian have the physique or skill to compete in such a “ruthless sport”? All three men laugh it off and Thimmaiah says, “It is nothing like what the public imagine. Played with an elongated ball, the game offers 44 players the chance of being involved in a game (including substitutions). The game accommodates all physical attributes; athletes from any sport can take to this game. It calls for power, speed and agility. It does not need special skills,” he says.

The forwards and interiors do not even touch the ball, leave alone catch it. Their job is only to defend the quarter-backs… to stop the opposition from getting to the quarter-backs,” said Thimmaiah, adding: “You have a defending team, an attacking team and a kicking team. It is not about just 11 on field. Thirty players are used in each game, with the other 14 used for substitutions. So, it involves a lot of people and does not need any one qualification or requirement to play the game.”